


The Remnants of Dreams

by Neutral03



Category: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TV 2012), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - All Media Types
Genre: Hurt Leo, Late night talks, Leonardo has Anxiety, Seaon 3-Farm House era, depressed Leo TMNT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-06
Updated: 2020-04-06
Packaged: 2021-03-01 23:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23505058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neutral03/pseuds/Neutral03
Summary: Leo and Donnie have a little heart to heart.
Relationships: Donatello & Leonardo (TMNT)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	The Remnants of Dreams

Donatello had walked into the Kitchen of the old O’Neil farmhouse. It was past the mere twilight hours of the night. It was the dead of night, and that just seemed to make everything more obscure. Anyone who was in the room could tell that Donnie was nervous as he walked through the old, creaking house in the middle of the night. Despite his obvious hestitance though he was a man on a mission. And he was more than determined to get his done so that he could go back to sleep. When he went into the kitchen he started to rummage around in the drawers and cabinets looking for something. The resident genius of the team repeated this process over and over again for about 10 minutes or so before he found what he was looking for. And nothing could rival that pure euphoric feeling that he had going on now. 

“A-ha!” He whispered yelled to himself as he finally found what he was looking for. Anyone want to take a guess what it was? No? Well, what he was looking for in the middle of the night when he should have been sleeping you may ask? Coffee. He was up at an ungodly hour of the night looking through everything in the old kitchen to look for coffee, or any source of caffeine that he can find that’s not tea related. And in his defense it has been over 3 months since he last had any coffee or caffeine at all. Ever since they arrived at the farmhouse, April had banned him from anything that could keep him up at night, and make it to where he couldn’t sleep. But at the moment he didn’t really care, he wasn’t very fond of sleep at the moment and wanted to be able to stay up as late as possible. And coffee was just the thing that he needed to do that by. 

He sat to work on his drink choice for the early morning, not really paying any attention to his current surroundings. The coffee itself wasn’t the best, all that it was is some sort of instant brand that he had never heard of before. He was so out of it that he didn’t hear the creaking of the stairs as the tell-tale sign that someone was coming. Donatello didn’t know that there was someone else moving through the house until he felt a hand on his shoulder. Surprised by the sudden contact Donnie jumped about 3 feet in the air. He tried not to scream, in fear of waking the rest of the house up unless necessary. In the chaos of all of it he dropped his coffee cup and it shattered on the floor. Once he was sure that his heart was beating again, Donnie turned around to see who had snuck up on him. Turning, he came face to face with his older brother Leonardo. Putting his hand over his plastron where his heart is supposed to be, he just stared at him in pure shock. 

“Leo? What the Hell you scared the shit out of me!” Donnie whisper shouted. Leo just stood there with a sheepish look on his face. Now, Donnie knew that out of all three of the brothers that he had Leo was the least likely to come up behind him to scare him for shits and giggles. Though his brother is one of the most skilled ninjas that he has ever encountered in his life besides their father and the Shredder. Which means that it’s almost impossible for even trained ninjas like them to hear either of them walk throughout the lair or here at the farmhouse. Since Leo was severely injured though and had to walk with a crutch they didn’t really have to worry about now. But he wasn’t sure rather it was because he wasn’t paying attention since he was shell-shocked, sleep deprived and just used to hearing the crutch that he was so surprised. Either way it gave him a little help to make sure that he wasn’t sleeping anymore tonight. 

“I’m sorry Donnie, I thought you heard me coming ‘cause of this stupid thing.”Leo said and motioned to his crutch. Donnie nodded his head in recognition. “Yeah, don’t worry about it, I wasn’t paying enough attention to my surroundings anyway so it wasn’t your fault.” Donnie told him. “But I have to ask, are you ok? Why are you down here so late?” And it was only then that he actually got a good look at his brother. Even in the darkness of the old farmhouse Donnie could make out Leo’s silhouette and see him clearly for the most part. He didn’t look like himself. His figure seemed very tense, like he was on high alert, and his eyes were scanning every corner of the room repeatedly so he wouldn’t have to make any eye contact. And Donnie didn’t miss the grimace of pain that seems to be permanently etched onto his brother’s face these days. And it didn’t help Donnie’s nerves either that Leo was taking his sweet time to answer him. “Oh, um.. I just couldn’t sleep, so I came down to get some tea or water or something…” Leo finally said. Donnie nodded his head in understanding. “Ok, well I can make it for you Leo, you should be sitting down now to rest your knee.” Donnie told him as he went to go look for the tea bags. He didn’t miss the huff and roll of the eyes that Leo gave him though, but his brother went willingly to sit down so he counted that as a win. 

The two brothers sat in complete silence in the little kitchen while the night was passing on around them. The silence was a little bit unnerving for the both of them, but neither one wanted to break it. The whistle of the tea kettle was what finally broke the tense silence that had been building. Donnie jumped at the sound of it and whirled around to face the stove to turn the kettle off before it could wake anyone else up. Leo smiled softly to himself watching his brother. This was the closest that the two of them have been since he woke up. And with that realization came the deep seeded guilt that had found a new home in his gut. With their father gone, it put Leo at the front of the line as the head of their small family. And with that new position, came even more responsibilities. Amongst those is the fact that he is solely responsible for his brothers now. He had to make sure that they were ok, and that there wasn’t a chance that something bad was going to happen to them. And he has been lacking in that regard when it came to the relationship between him and Donatello. Leo felt extremely awful about that fact, but it’s not like he hasn’t been trying any. Everytime he tries to approach Donnie about anything he runs away from him. The only time that they actually talked to each other was when Donnie would come in and check on his recovery. Still that was no excuse, he should be trying even harder to make a connection with his brother again. He already failed his brothers once, and he was determined not to do it again. 

Leo was brought out of his musings when Donnie brought over his mug of tea. “Thanks Donnie.” Leo said softly. Donnie nodded his head to show that he had heard him before he went back to the counter to grab his drink. He then walked back over to the table and sat across from his older brother. And for the longest time neither one of them would look at each other. They both just kept their gazes on their respective cups. Time seemed to drag on for the two of them though, and it was driving Leo mad. He just wanted things to go back to the way that they were before between the two of them. And it was then that Leo realized that he couldn’t take it anymore. This, whatever it was between them was going to end and it was going to end now. 

  
  


“Donnie,” Leo said softly. Donatello picked his head up from where he had it hanging over his coffee cup. He seemed a little shocked at his brother talking to him, but he wasn’t going to turn him away either. “Yes Leo? Are you ok? What’s wrong, do I need to get my med kit?” Donnie asked frantically. Leo shook his head with a little laugh at his brother. “No, no I’m fine Donnie I promise, I just wanted to check up on you.” Leo told him. Donnie visibly relaxed at that, and leaned back into the kitchen chair that he was sitting in. The two of them didn’t say another word to each other for a couple of minutes. Though that didn’t stop Donnie from checking over his older brother when he thought that he wasn’t looking. Every couple of minutes, he would see Leo grimace, or shift around in his seat just a little bit. Donnie wasn’t stupid, he was one of, if not the smartest person in his family and though he is no doctor, he can tell when someone’s in pain. More likely than not, Leo’s knee was acting up again, but he didn’t want to worry his little brother about it. Donnie loves his brother, he really does, but sometimes he just wants to smack with his bo-staff to get him to rest and take care of himself for once. 

Donnie wasn’t going to just sit here and let his brother suffer through his pain in silence. So he got up and went to get the extra set of painkillers that he kept in the kitchen. He turned around and placed them down in front of his older brother and nodded for him to take them. “I can get you a glass of water to take those if you would rather not take them with tea.” Donnie told him. Leo shook his head and opened the bottle. He shook out two and popped them back dry. Then he drank some of his tea and leaned back into his chair. “Thanks, Donnie.” Leo said to him. “Why didn’t you tell me anything about your leg hurting you?” Donnie asked him. “I didn’t want to worry you, it was nothing, it’s been hurting on and off all day.” Leo told him sheepishly. 

Donnie rolled his eyes at him, and smacked himself in the forehead. “But the only way that you can get better is if you tell someone these things.” Donnie lectured him. Leo sighed and Donnie could tell that he was holding back the urge to roll his eyes. “I know that you’re probably sick and tired of us all hovering around you like you’re made of glass, but we’re doing it because we care about you Leo.” Leo sighed to himself. “I know that you guys are only doing this because you guys care about me, and I really appreciate it, don’t get me wrong.” Leo told him. “But, Donnie I’m the oldest, I’m the leader, and until we find Father and I know that he’s not dead, I’m the head of the clan, I’m supposed to be the one who’s taking care of you guys.” Leo sighed, frustrated and gripped at his tea mug. “And I’m a liability to this team Donnie, that’s all that I am now. It’s been months since we’ve been here, and it’s been weeks since I’ve woken up and I’m basically no better off than when we started.” Leo told him. “At this point you guys are better off without me.” Donnie was shocked at this confession. He never thought that Leo was feeling like this, and holding all of this stuff in. He knew that Leo felt bad about what happened in New York, Donnie did too. And they’ve sort of worked things out between them for the most part. Though things are still sort of awkward between the two of them. He just wanted his brother to get better. 

“That’s not true.” Donnie whispered in a hoarse voice. Leo shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “Donnie don’t…’ But Donnie cut him off before he could finish the thought. “No, no you don’t get to say any, any of that bullshit that you’ve just spewed at me.” Donnie told him in a serious tone. “You are my brother and I love you and I have looked up to you ever since we were little kids.” Donnie told him. “You have always been the one that I and Raph and Mikey go to when there’s been something wrong, aside from Splinter.” Leo just sat there and stared at him. “Our Father chose you to be the leader of our team because he knew that you were the only one capable of handling it.” Donnie told him. “You remember what happened when Raph took over.” That got a laugh out of Leo. “What I’m trying to say is, stop blaming yourself.” Donnie told him softly. “I know that not all of this is self-pity, I know that you’re frustrated that you can’t do more to help us and because of that you think you failed.” Donnie told him. “And I know that you’re still blaming yourself for New York, and I know that you’re still dealing with stuff from the first time that the Kraang tried to invade too.” 

Leo didn’t say anything to that, so Donnie took that as his que to keep going. “And I’m not stupid Leo, I know that you’re anxiety has been acting up again, and I haven’t seen it this bad since we were little.” One day when they were little, Master Splinter had sat him, Raph, and Mikey down in the dojo without Leo. When Mikey had asked where Leo was, he had told him that he had sent Leo to his room because he wasn’t feeling well. He then explained to them that their brother had an illness that affected not only his body, but his mind as well. He told them that it didn’t make their brother any different from the rest of them or how he was beforehand. And he didn’t want them to treat him any different than they normally did. That one was really directed at Raph, since he didn’t want the young hothead to tease his brother for it. They ended up spending over an hour in the dojo talking with their father about it. And afterwards Donnie went to his room and pulled out his laptop that he had found and fixed when he went scavenging with their father a couple of months ago. He spent the rest of the day and night researching what Splinter had called the illness. ‘Anxiety’ was something that he had never heard of before until now, and the more that he read about it, the more that he was determined that he was going to find a cure for it so that his older brother wouldn’t have to suffer any longer than he had too. It’s been almost a decade now since that chat between them and their father and Donnie is no where closer than he was then. And it really pissed him off. His brother didn’t deserve any of this. 

Leo was shocked when Donnie suddenly got up from his chair and threw himself at him. He had him wrapped up in a really tight hug. “I want you to know that I'm here for you alright?” Donnie told him. “And I mean it ok, you don’t deserve this Leo, you’re the best leader, and best big brother that I could ever ask for.” And that was when the dam broke. Leo started crying on Donnie’s shoulder and all that he could do was try and comfort his brother. The two of them spent the next at least 30 minutes in that position. When Leo finally pulled away, he was wiping away the remaining tears from his eyes. Donnie stayed in his position watching his brother, and waiting in case he had to step in. “Thanks, Donnie, I needed that.” Leo told him. Donnie gave his brother one of his gap-tooth smiles and that made Leo’s heart melt. “No problem Leo, that’s what brothers are for.” Leo just smiled at him and moved to get up. Donnie helped him up so he wouldn’t aggravate his leg anymore. “Let’s go to bed.” Leo said. And Donnie nodded and they both headed up to bed. And they both went back to bed, feeling much lighter than they were to begin with, and they both realized that they needed that heart to heart talk more than they thought they would in the end. 

**THE END**


End file.
